Working together - participatory budgeting in Paris
Ideas are put forward online, either by individual citizens or organisations like neighbourhood associations. Offline activities are run to help and encourage people to engage. The council check if they meet basic eligibility criteria, whether they are feasible, and how much they are likely to cost.
They then involve Paris’s neighbourhood councils and civic associations to consider whether there are ways of improving proposals by grouping or merging ideas. People who’ve submitted similar ideas can be asked to work together to create a common proposal via co-build workshops.
The final list of ideas goes to a vote - with voting available online and at public ballot boxes. Previously Paris has used a system where citizens get a number of positive and negative votes. There are separate processes in each borough, as well as city-wide vote. They use an online map to show the progress made on implementing chosen projects.